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Rizzuto pleads guilty to racketeering charge

NEW YORK- The reputed head of the Montreal mafia has pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge in a New York court Friday and in essence admitted to murdering three mobsters in 1981.

As part of a plea bargain agreement, Vito Rizzuto will receive a 10-year prison sentence to be followed by a three-year supervised release.

But with time served factored in, and depending on his behaviour while in prison, Rizzuto could be released and deported back to Canada in less than six years.

Judge Nicholas Garaufis almost did not accept the guilty plea. He said he found Rizzuto's carefully prepared statement to the court to be insufficient.

After much discussion with lawyer John Mitchell, Rizzuto elaborated.

"I was one of the guys who participated in this. I said it was a hold-up. The other guys came in and started shooting," he said.

However, Rizzuto never actually admitted to firing his weapon at the three mobsters, though he did admit he was armed at the time of the murder.

Rizzuto also revealed in court that he underwent a recent X-ray which showed a spot on his lung. He is currently awaiting a CAT scan to determine what it is.

Vito Rizzuto, 61, the reputed head of the Mafia in Montreal, has been in custody since his January 2004 arrest at his luxury home in northern Montreal.

His arrest in Montreal was part of a roundup of several members of the Bonanno crime family in New York the same day.

Rizzuto was charged with conspiracy in a racketeering case, which carried a maximum sentence of 20 years.

The case involved the May 5, 1981, murders of three mobsters who had turned against Phil Rastelli, the leader of the Bonanno family at the time.

Rastelli was in prison at the time but his position as leader was being defended by Joseph Massino, one of his captains, or capos.

Massino has already been convicted of orchestrating the ambush where Alphonse (Sonny Red) Indelicato, Dominick (Trin) Trinchera and Philip (Lucky) Giaconne were gunned down for attempting to wrest control of the Bonanno family.

Rizzuto was named as one of the gunmen by a Bonanno family member who took part in the slayings. He decided to become an informant in 2003.

Rizzuto challenged the U.S. extradition request through the courts until he ran out of options, in August, when the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear his case.

He was quickly flown to New York afterward and reportedly began negotiating a plea bargain with prosecutors in October.